Monday, March 23, 2015

Solo Trip to Panama

My time was up again, and it was time to take my second boarder run to renew my visa. I decided that since I already took a trip north to Nicaragua, it was time to head south to check out Panama. Most people think that there's basically nothing in Panama except for Panama city, but that is definitely not the case. After asking around a little bit the favored boarder run location is a place called Bocas del Toro for a few reasons: it has a beautiful caribbean climate, it's just across the boarder from Costa Rica, and it's a good time! Well, that's all the convincing I needed to go there. And once again, I decided to take this trip solo.

The balancing act of walking across the holey bridge

About a week and a half ago, I woke up verrrrry early on a Thursday morning to catch the 6am bus from San Jose to Sixaola (the boarder town). It was a steamy bus with no a/c but it wasn't too much of an issue since I ended up sleeping for the majority of the five and a half hour trip. Now, I was warned in advance that the Panama boarder crossing could be a bit tricky, so I did my research and prepared myself for the experience. First I had to pay an exit tax to leave Costa Rica, then they had me fill out a simple form about my personal info an my travel plans and they gave me the stamp I needed to leave Costa Rica. Then, I walked across a very rickety pedestrian bridge over a large swamp and river in order to enter Panama. The bridge is so poorly maintained that there are holes and gaps throughout the entire way, so you have to look down and do a balance beam kind-of act in order to get across safely. I crossed my fingers that this was not a foreshadow of how my time in Panama would be. The first thing I had to do when I reached the other side of the bridge was pay an entrance tax for Panama in order to get a sticker so I could eventually get my stamp. Then I had to walk over to boarder control and I anticipated the worst. This is the part where I was told I had to present a exit ticket from Panama in the next 90 days, a ticket back to my home country, and proof that I have $500 in my bank account. Well, maybe I got lucky but the friendly man at customs didn't ask for any of that. He simply smiled and asked me what I was doing in Panama and how long I expected to be there and BAM, just like that he stamped my passport and I was through. Hallelujah!

After I got the stamp I joined two young German tourists in a pirate taxi (non-official) for the hour-long journey to Almirante where I would catch a water taxi to Bocas del Toro. On the drive there, I took some time to admire the thick, lush vegetation that lined the skinny road. I felt like I was in the middle of the amazon. In addition to the jungle we passed a sea of banana trees (formally owned by Chiquita) and a few small villages. Finally, we arrived at the water taxi station. I don't know what I was expecting for this part of the journey, but I didn't expect it to be just a Panamanian dude with a big fishing boat with rows of bench-like seating for the passengers. The boat didn't look very reassuring, but at least they provided life jackets. Thirty minutes later, after a windy, bumpy boat ride, I found myself in Bocas del Toro, FINALLY!

For those of you who don't know, Bocas del Toro is a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama. Bocas del Toro town is located on one of the islands and is the center of life, but many of the surrounding islands are more remote and home to small hostels, resort and quieter beaches. I chose to stay at a hostel that had RAVE reviews on hostelworld.com that was on one of the other islands. So, this required me to take one last water taxi from Bocas city to get to my hostel (and this time that water taxi really was just a fishing boat). 5 mintues later we arrived at the dock, and I looked up to see the hostel perched on top of a steep hill surrounded by tropical trees and bushes. I climbed the long set of stairs to reach the top and was greeted by a friendly Australian surfer dude who was working the front desk. He explained to me that the hostel had 14 acres of private land that contained hiking paths, animals, and 40 types of fruit trees. Additionally I was informed that the hostel is completely eco-friendly and runs off of solar power and uses rain water. Also, he told me that there was a coral reef just 50 meters off the dock that we were welcome to snorkel and that they had paddle boards, canoes, and kayaks for us to use, not to mention that they also had their own private pool. I knew I was in for a great weekend from the very start.

The beautiful view from my hostel

After I got settled, I went downstairs to grab a beer at the bar and struck up a conversation with some on the hostel staff. In addition to the Aussie surfer, I met a young newlywed couple from Texas (the husband was a chef and the wife the baker), a young couple with a woman from Scotland and guy from Italy who also was also a chef, a woman from France, a guy from Colorado, a guy from Sweden and one of the two owners who was a 30-something Canadian guy. As I drank my beer and watched them prepare dinner we all got to know each other a little bit, and as most travelers do, they all had really interesting life stories! Dinner was served family-style every night and it was absolutely delicious!

After dinner the staff taught me a fun dice game that they played often at the hostel and we played for a few hours. But, after that I decided to turn in after a very long day of travel.

The next morning I woke up to a little rain, so I grabbed my book and one of the hammocks and just relaxed most of the morning. Luckily, around noon the sun came out so I decided to head into the main island to check out the town. I quickly found out that Bocas is a very international place. It doesn't have the latino vibe like you get in other places in central america. Most of the shops and restaurants seemed to owned by foreigners and offered any cuisine BUT Panamanian food. Also, most people on the island speak English rather than Spanish. However, as I walked around the town a little more and got away from the main area, I started to see the neighborhoods where the locals lived in their little brightly colored beach houses. For those of you who have every been the coast in Georgia or the Carolinas, just imagine those southern beach houses but a little more run down and painted in a bright, tropical color. It turns out that the population of Bocas is 12,000, so the locals are practically outnumbered by the tourists. Anyway, my afternoon consisted of getting lunch at a little Mexican restaurant and enjoying a coconut brown porter from the local craft brewery in town. Later on I headed back to the hostel and once again enjoyed chatting with the hostel staff while they cooked us another scrumptious dinner.

The next day I woke up to another overcasty day, but there was no rain so I decided to take advantage of the dry weather. The hostel staff gave me a tip about an hour-long jungle hike I could take throughout the island to arrive at a secret snorkel spot on the other side of the island. I was feeling adventurous so I grabbed a pair of rubber boots that the hostel lent me, packed up the snorkel equipment and a few other things and started my adventure! Throughout the next hour I would find myself knee-deep in mud (thank God for the boots), face-to-face with a beautiful owl butterfly the size of my hand, and surrounded by tons of little red frogs hopping through the jungle. Finally, I reached the end of the trail and asked a local to point me towards the snorkel spot (I was warned it's really hard to find). The young guy offered to take me there himself and I'm glad he did because it truly was tiny and hard to find. Coincidentally I ran into two Swedish girls from the hostel at the same spot! I spent the next hour snorkeling and relaxing in the sun. I got to see tons of tropical fish, coral, lots and lots of little sardines. I've never seen water like that before. It was so clear that it looked turquoise! I felt like I was living in a postcard for a moment. Afterwards, I caught a water taxi back to the hostel with the Swedish girls and spent the rest of my afternoon at the hostel. I took a nap by the pool and then took the paddleboard out to the reef near the hostel dock and got to see even more fish and coral including starfish and lots of sea urchins. Later that night I enjoyed my last delicious dinner at the hostel and then went out in Bocas town with some of the hostel staff. On the water taxi into town, the most magical thing happened! First, we got to see the bioluminescent algae light up all around us like flickering fireflies swimming beneath us in the water, and then further in the journey a dolphin jumped out of the water right next to our boat! Between that and the fun night we had bar-hopping in town, it was the cherry-on-top of an amazing weekend in Bocas.

The next morning I woke up before dawn to catch the two water taxis, one regular taxi and two buses I needed to get home to Heredia. I've really grown to like solo travel as it really pushes me to be friendly and meet new people, and I got to meet some really awesome people in my time in Bocas. I would just like to give a shout-out to all of the staff at Bambuda Lodge for being the friendliest, nicest hostel staff I've ever met and providing me with delicious food and great company. It was a short trip, but it was a good one. I'm sure that won't be my last time in Bocas del Toro.

Just a 20-somethin girl trying to get a taste of the world before I have to settle down and grow up

I'm an aspiring Spanish teacher from Minneapolis who has spent the last few years teaching English abroad in order to gain a worldly perspective and specifically to improve my Spanish and integrate into Spanish-speaking cultures. I spent one year in Almería, Spain, one year in Madrid, Spain and am currently living in Heredia, Costa Rica.